I imagine achievements etc. wouldn't work if Steam is not running, hence why the Steam version of TW2 is not 'DRM-free'.
No. It’ll be a stand-alone install. You know, like in the good ol’ days? Just pop in the DVD, install it and play.
Mod edit: Please refrain from judgemental/offensive remarks towards other users of the forum, including general ones.
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Divinity Dragon Commander from Larian Studios offers Steam achievements and Steam trading cards and Steam multiplayer and Steam stats and Steam cloud saving, just the whole usual Steam feature program.... Nevertheless it is effectively DRM-free. You can start the game via its exe file (DCapp.exe, the normal desktop icon is linking to the Steam client) without the Steam client running or needed while playing. Of course you can't collect achievements while not being connected to Steam but that's up to each customer to decide. So that can't really be an excuse for CDPR to put DRM in the Steam version of TW2/3...
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'K, we do seem to have got a little side-tracked from the OP, who has already requested that we avoid turning this into either an Anti-Steam thread or into a discussion on whether or not the initial registration counts as DRM. I would like to request the same. Which means it may become a fairly short thread, as we don't have an answer.
1. As has been pointed out, TW2 used Steam DRM if bought on Steam, but used other forms of DRM, later removed, if bought elsewhere. The requirement to use DRM was insisted on by Namco Bandai (and maybe by other distributors too, I don't know). For TW3, this is not the case. Therefore, the fact that they used Steam DRM for TW2 does *NOT* tell us that they will on TW3.
2. We don't know what the situation will be on Steam (or Origin, if they also sell the game there). CDPR have explicitly said that retail and GOG will be DRM-free, but have been silent on Steam. We don't know if this means that they're planning DRM, or that they're still deciding. So pushing for it is reasonable.
Personally, I wasn't aware that there were Steam games that didn't require the Steam client to run at all after installation, and I'm interested to hear about this (although I won't be buying TW3 on Steam).
@LordCrash - I just ran the test that you suggested with Crusader Kings II and lo and behold, it ran.
A quick question though, as I don't plan to experiment further. What happens if the Steam Client is completely uninstalled? Or if it's transferred to a different computer that doesn't have the Client?
I think it would be great if TW3 on Steam didn't use their DRM.
1. As has been pointed out, TW2 used Steam DRM if bought on Steam, but used other forms of DRM, later removed, if bought elsewhere. The requirement to use DRM was insisted on by Namco Bandai (and maybe by other distributors too, I don't know). For TW3, this is not the case. Therefore, the fact that they used Steam DRM for TW2 does *NOT* tell us that they will on TW3.
2. We don't know what the situation will be on Steam (or Origin, if they also sell the game there). CDPR have explicitly said that retail and GOG will be DRM-free, but have been silent on Steam. We don't know if this means that they're planning DRM, or that they're still deciding. So pushing for it is reasonable.
Personally, I wasn't aware that there were Steam games that didn't require the Steam client to run at all after installation, and I'm interested to hear about this (although I won't be buying TW3 on Steam).
@LordCrash - I just ran the test that you suggested with Crusader Kings II and lo and behold, it ran.
A quick question though, as I don't plan to experiment further. What happens if the Steam Client is completely uninstalled? Or if it's transferred to a different computer that doesn't have the Client?I think it would be great if TW3 on Steam didn't use their DRM.
The game should run fine in both cases.@LordCrash - I just ran the test that you suggested with Crusader Kings II and lo and behold, it ran.
Okay my two cents. First off: You say DRM free games on Steam. However you still need to use the Steam client to download them in the first place. So how is being forced to use a client to get the game not DRM? Of course you can install it afterwards on multiple machines without Steam or so you say. Another thing: You point the finger at CDPR and asking them to make TW3 DRM free. I don't know how many games Steam has but I assume 99,99% is not DRM free. It just seems odd to me supporting a system that allows the enforcement of DRM. I doubt they'll make TW 3 DRM free on Steam since most of the customers on Steam don't seem to care about DRM in the first place. CDPR has plenty of other options for you to get the game without DRM. Also if they''d do another GOG backup thing in the future. I highly doubt they'll let you activate it on Steam. I assume they'll give a GOG backup code.
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Several Steam games can actually run even without the client in background, if the developer/publisher allows them to.
And yes, it can work even with games with Steamworks integration.
A reminder:
Please do NOT turn this into a debate about the definition of DRM, or about whether or not it's OK for some players to want to use Steam.
Please do NOT turn this into a debate about the definition of DRM, or about whether or not it's OK for some players to want to use Steam.
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For me the most important thing is supporting the company i like and allowing them to receive the majority of the revenue. if i buy from GoG i will give cdproject red all of my money + it will be DRM free. i will no elaborate about it due to the restriction from the mod.
I already preordered The witcher 3 from GoG.
@Dragonbird: Tomb Raider one of the the best game of last year (at least in my opinion) was released on steam as a DRM free game. you need steam to update the game but don't need it to play the game (the game can start from TR.exe)
I already preordered The witcher 3 from GoG.
@Dragonbird: Tomb Raider one of the the best game of last year (at least in my opinion) was released on steam as a DRM free game. you need steam to update the game but don't need it to play the game (the game can start from TR.exe)
I suggest you read my very first post in this thread. Many questions should be answered there.
For a start, it wasn't my intention to point the finger at CDPR (I believe that we can discuss topics without the need of pointing the finger at each other). But I also think it's a valid question to ask whether CDPR will use the option to deliver a DRM-free game (download via client excluded) on Steam or not. Let's put it that way: for me Steam offers some features that GOG doesn't offer so far. I mentioned some of them here in the topic. At the same time I'm not the biggest fan of DRM. It doesn't bother me much but I think it's unnecessary and I would rather not have it attached to my games no matter on which platform or shop I bought them..
But I agree that the issue might become irrelevant if they'll offer DRM-free backup codes of Witcher 3 for all Steam/box customers like they did in the case of TW2. In that case every customer - no matter on which platform - would have access to a DRM-free version of the game.
Nevertheless I think it would fit CDPR well if their future games wouldn't inlcude "tagged on" DRM (like Steamworks CEG) on Steam.
@Rhinala
Please read my initial post. I already preordered the physical CE and maybe I preorder the GOG version on top of it as well. I think I've done my part in that concern tbh (I also own copies of TW2 on GOG, Steam and in a box...) but my actual "gaming copy" will be most likely a Steam version because I value the features Steam offers and because I have my complete library there. I think many "modern" PC gamers share this preference without being witcher fanatics. They probably only buy the Steam version as every other regular game out there. I personally think CDPR should offer them a as DRM-free as possible on Steam as well given their public anti-DRM politics and statements.
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@LordCrash It's also worth noting that a lot may change by the time TW3 is released. Even if they don't offer a DRM-free version on Steam, most (if not all) of the Steam advantages you've pointed out are likely to be available for the gog version as well, through Galaxy.
Indeed. Auto-updates, achievements and chat are mentioned in the Galaxy vid.
[video=youtube;nyYW9AOWh-8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyYW9AOWh-8[/video]
I'm genuiely curious which features GOG Galaxy will really offer once it's out (Edit: I mean on top of the features they already mentioned in the GOG conference, see Kinley's post above). I hope it can be a real Steam competitor sometime in the future.
One of the best features of Steam (which I forgot to mention above) is the fact that you don't have to reinstall your games if you put a new OS on your system (given the fact that your OS and your game files are not on the same partition). You just have to reinstall Steam and you are good to go. For someone like me with a huge library of games installed that's a great plus. I also hope GOG Galaxy will offer something like family sharing. While this isn't a problem if your family/friends are living in the same house it's a different story if you don't even live in the same city. I share my Steam library with my brother and my best friend and I hope GOG will offer something like that with Galaxy as well.
On a side note: I guess for people who'll use the GOG Galaxy client the last little difference to DRM-free games on Steam will vanish completely. The download will be done in the GOG Galaxy client just like on Steam today.
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I still think people who bought the game on Steam should not have gotten a gog backup copy. I mean, the purpose was to have a digital backup. People who bought it directly through GOG (pre-order) got the short end of the stick. However I understand it from a marketing p.o.v. Anyhow I think TW 3 will be redeemable on GOG after a year or two.
Well, there would be no need for an additional GOG copy/backup if the game would be DRM-free on Steam (initial download through the client excluded).
I think CDPR should try to motivate people to use GOG instead of Steam by using "fair tactics". They should motivate people by offering more swag/extras, better prices and special features but NOT by implementing a mechanic into their Steam version they actually fundamentally oppose. I respect CDPR a lot (more than most of the other devs/pubs out there) and if they are really serious about respecting me as a customer they shouldn't try to trick me into buying from GOG. If they want every PC gamer to buy from GOG they should just offer the game exclusively there or give me good and fair reasons to favor GOG. If you ask me DRM-freeness isn't enough anymore (given the fact that this is possible on Steam as well) and I think CDP/GOG came to the same conclusion. That's the reason why they announced GOG Galaxy. They seem to have acknowledged that you must try to convince PC gamers by offering more features. That's what most modern PC gamers want. But that doesn't mean that you can't give them the possibility to stay DRM-free if they so desire. They should imo just be honest and upfront about all this stuff...
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I think it was for two reasons. One was definitely to help promote GOG, but the other was that there had been a series of problematic patches with the Steam version, and a bug in the game launcher (i.e a CDPR component, not Steam) meant that TW2 Steam version stopped working offline when 2.0 came out. The GOG backup provided a "quick fix" for patching problems for both retail and Steam customers.
According to @LordCrash reply when I asked earlier, you would be able to delete the client, but I suspect you'd need to install the game first. I'm not uninstalling Steam to test it out though.
I'm not sure if you're asking just out of curiosity (I was), or if it's something you're considering? If you're not interested in the Steam Client features, then GOG would probably be a better option.
(Although I've just thought of one reason to do that - Steam has distributed servers, and may be faster than GOG/Manual download, depending on where you live and your internet connection)
I'm not 100% if that works for ALL games on the list the same way. Some just work if you move the game files without any installation needed others might need a new installation. I haven't tried it myself for each and every game as you might understand...
But I agree with @Dragonbird
If you don't want to use Steam after all why not just buying the GOG version???